1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lacrosse sticks, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for dampening the rebound of a lacrosse stick head pocket after the pocket has had force applied to it by, for example, a caught lacrosse ball.
2. Description of the Background
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional molded-head lacrosse stick. As shown, a typical lacrosse stick includes a handle or shaft (dashed lines) and a double-wall synthetic head 10. Head 10 includes a generally V-shaped frame having two sidewalls 14A, 14B joined by a socket 11 at the narrow end of the “V” for receiving and seating the shaft. A transverse wall (or “scoop”) 16 joins the sidewalls 14A, 14B at the open end of the “V.” Webbing is woven between the sidewalls 14A, 14B, scoop 16 and stop member 18 to form a pocket. The “double-wall” descriptor applied to the head 10 refers to the fact that it has two sidewalls as opposed to the single sidewall found in traditional wooden lacrosse sticks in which the pocket is completed by a woven gut wall in place of a second, solid sidewall. The shaft joins the narrow end of the head 10 and is received in socket 11, which includes a stop member 18 defined by a closed-ended socket, and an outer throat 12 supported by extensions of the sidewalls. The throat 12 and stop member 18 are integrally joined to form one unitary socket 11. A screw or other fastener 22 placed through socket 11 secures the head 10 to the shaft. The modern double-wall head 10 is a monolithic structure that is injection-molded from synthetic materials such as nylon, urethane and polycarbonate as known in the art.
The head 10 of the lacrosse stick may be strung in one of several ways with a series of strings and/or mesh to form a pocket for catching and throwing the lacrosse ball. Traditionally-strung pockets are required by the rules of the women's game and have four or five longitudinal leather and/or synthetic thongs, eight to twelve stitches of lateral cross-lacing and no more than two “shooting/throw” strings. To facilitate stringing of the thongs, a series of upper thong holes 32 are provided in transverse wall 16 and paired with corresponding thong holes 34 in stop member 18. To complete the pocket web, nylon strings are woven around the thongs and laced through string holes 36 in sidewalls 14A, 14B and one or more throwing or shooting strings are woven through the thongs extending transversely between the throwing string holes 38 on the upper portions of sidewalls 14A, 14B. These are typical features of a lacrosse stick and are shown generally in Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,495; Crawford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,984; and Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,947, which are each incorporated herein by reference. In order to comply with the rules of the women's game, the pocket must be strung such that the top of a lacrosse ball (2.5 inches in diameter) placed in the pocket held horizontally extends above the top edge of the side walls 14A, 14B. The rules of the men's game allow traditional stringing but also permit mesh pockets that are significantly deeper and more forgiving. The pocket of a men's stick must be strung so that the top of a lacrosse ball placed in the pocket extends above the bottom edge of the side walls 14A, 14B.
Although the synthetic materials used in the construction of the head 10 impart many performance advantages over traditional wooden heads, the synthetic, monolithic double-wall head fails to outperform wooden heads in one critical aspect: pocket “give.” Specifically, whereas traditional unitary single walled wooden and gut sticks deflected under the force of a caught ball, the strength and rigidity of synthetics required for head durability combined with a rigid metal or composite shaft precludes pocket “give”, and more give is desirable to facilitate catching the bouncy, hard rubber lacrosse ball. Because the synthetic heads use substantially rigid materials to provide the structural integrity and durability of the head frame, the thong holes provide little deflection against which the pocket strings can pull or stretch. In other words, the thong holes in a synthetic head do not deaden the tension of the pocket webbing, as occurs, for example, when a lacrosse ball hits the pocket. Similarly, the rigid connection between the head 10 and the unyielding shaft provides no deadening or absorption of the force of the ball.
Notably, this pocket “give” is most critical in the women's game in which shallow pocket depth rules necessitate tightly strung pockets. As a result of the necessary tension, when a lacrosse ball hits the pocket the impact forces are returned to the ball, producing a rebounding or trampoline effect that can propel the ball out of the pocket. This makes it difficult to catch and control thrown balls, particularly balls thrown at high velocity. Indeed, for all but the most skilled players, a lacrosse ball can easily bounce out of a legally strung pocket. In essence, the pocket, strung on a rigid unforgiving frame, can acts like the strings of a tennis racquet to rebound the ball out of the pocket. Although this trampoline effect is more pronounced in the tightly strung women's lacrosse heads, the desire to absorb the impact of an incoming ball is equally applicable to men's lacrosse heads. Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus that provides the pocket “give” of a traditional wooden head while maintaining the lightness, durability, and structural integrity of modern synthetic lacrosse heads.